Jaipur: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (April 30, 2004) said if the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was voted back to power it would initiate a consensual process to ensure results of exit polls were published only after voting ends.

Demanding that exit polls be accountable, party president Venkaiah Naidu alleged that exit polls being conducted by various TV channels were taking the "country for a ride".

Elections 2004-The Drama unfolds...
Political Parties in India

"Although I am not damning the exit polls but I certainly want that they should be accountable," Naidu told reporters.

"The recent exit polls, presented as people's verdict, which they are not, have taken the country for a ride causing huge loss to the market and causing an unnecessary fear of political instability," he said.

However, he added the BJP was not asking for a ban on exit polls. "We only want that their results should be telecast after the final phase of polling is over."

He alleged the polls had caused a loss of Rs 50,000 crore to the market in two days. "Who will take the responsibility for this loss," Naidu asked.

"We have seen exit polls go haywire in the past but they are still being presented as the final verdict of the people on the basis of which some political leaders start having dreams only to be shattered," the party president added.

Naidu said NDA Government on returning to power would initiate a proposal by consensus to ensure that results of exit polls are announced only after the last ballot is cast.

He also asserted that the NDA would win 320-plus seats in the Lok Sabha, despite exits polls predicting otherwise.